I have a Bb clarinet that was made by F.Barbier, Paris. This particular instrument has the most beautiful warm, full tone. The barrel seems to be shorter than the one on my R-13, and definitely requires facial muscular exercises to force it in perfect tune. Two questions:
1.Can anyone give me background on the company that made this?
2.The wood has cracked all the way through on the barrel, and the bore appears to be smaller than the replacement barrels tried at 2 local (and not so local) music stores. I love this instrument (better than my R-13)and would love to have it repaired or the barrel replaced somehow-WHATEVER SHALL I DO?????????

Some of those old Barbiers are great clarinets. You apparently found one. Congratulations on recognizing that some lesser known brand horns are actually superior to some name brand clarinets. After Selmer took over the company, Selmer dealers sold these horns as their low priced Selmer line. As I remember, the Selmer Barbiers had the Selmer name somewhere on the horn, so if your does not, it would be an older model.

Check out all of the dealers in your area which do extensive clarinet repairs. A good repair shop will have a box of old barrels (and other parts) available for sale at a reasonable price. Try as many barrels as you can, both for pitch and response. Try each barrel in several different rotational positions. Don't worry too much about the bore dimensions. Sometimes a "wrong size" barrel will work just fine.

If the above doesn't work, contact the Selmer company. Selmer makes a clarinet (Recital?) which is advertised as having a 0.563 bore. The Recital barrel will cost you at least $100, but it will definitely be a small enough bore for your Barbier -- probably too small.

As a last resort (expensive) you can contact the barrel makers such as DEG and see which ones will make you a custom barrel.

Thank you, thank you! It's intriguing to me to consider this particular instruments possible travels over the years!
Thanks also for the info on barrels. After reading so many entries on the bulletin board, I'd begun to feel inadequate-not having finished my music degree, not being able to participate in some discussions. But, my love is for the music-the playing of it, independently and corporately. Finding out more about my favorite instrument encourages me greatly!
Thanks again~
PB